Shellfish or crustaceans such as shrimp and crabs may be frequently prepared for eating by boiling the shellfish in water and then serving the cooked products still in the shell. The shell may have to be removed or broken away from the meat before the meat can then be extracted for consumption. Boiling or broiling of a shellfish or crustacean, such as a crab, may not change the characteristics of the shell in that it may still be relatively hard and brittle.
It may have been common practice for many years to use a nutcracker-type instrument to crack the shells of crab legs or other types of shellfish in order to facilitate removal of the shellfish meat from the protective shell. These utensils may have found wide-spread acceptance for opening of shellfish shells, primarily because there may have been no reasonable alternative system or method. However, the nutcracker-type utensils may be relatively expensive and present restaurants with a cost problem because of the relatively high percentage of loss that is experienced as a result of customer pilferage. Furthermore, these utensils may not be particularly useful in the case of shells that are somewhat soft, and mere cracking of the shell often does not allow a person to easily remove meat from the cracked shell.
Many persons experiencing frustration with the inadequacy of nutcracker-type utensils for opening crab leg shells, particularly in circumstances where the shell is somewhat soft but of tough characteristics, may resort to the use of a common table fork in an effort to sever the shell. One of the tines of the fork may be inserted under the shell and the user may then lift up on the fork handle in an effort to tear the shell body. Although this may accomplish the intended result in certain instances, many times such misuse of the fork may result in bending of the fork tine, thus again causing the restaurant losses because of the cost of replacing bent forks.
Furthermore, once the shell is cracked, it may be difficult to extract the meat portion and/or other items from the crustacean. What is needed is a system and method for opening the shell, and extracting the meat portion and other items from a crustacean.